Book Earning:
A Historic Parade
Of Personalities
lliindr<‘cl*« of Tnr Ui'i'ls writing
hImiuI I lion s;i nils in llic* Did ionarv of
INorfli Carolina Riof»‘r»|>liy
B»/ SARAH K. Sll AKKK
The first of eight volumes of
the '‘Dictionary of N.C. Biog-
raphy “ I A - Cl will he published
in July. A brochure with prices
and complete information of this
unique and significant work is
available from The University of
North Carolina Tress. Box 22HH,
Chapel llill. N.C.. 275 N —
/:</.
The vicar in Ihe Church of England
who became Ihc hermil of Bald
Mountain is only one of four thousand
fascinating North Carolinians piofilcd
in William S. Powell's Dictionary of
North Carolina Biography, to be pub¬
lished in eight volumes by the Univer¬
sity of North Carolina Press at Chapel
Hill.
Musicians, pirates, inventors, au¬
thors. Indians and criminals mix with
colonial governors, statesmen,
businessmen, and soldiers, all native
or adopted children of North Carolina,
in the pages of the DNCB, the most
comprehensive state project of its
kind. This massive endeavor has
grown from the enthusiasm and dedi¬
cation of William S. Powell, w hose ex¬
perience as Curator of the North Caro¬
lina Collection at The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill con¬
vinced him that Ihe state needed a
biographical dictionary modeled on
the Dictionary of American Biog¬
raphy.
Powell, now a professor of history at
Carolina, drew up a list of possible
subjects for inclusion in the work
seven years ago. and circulated it
amongst the members of the Historical
Society of North Carolina, a small or¬
ganization of professional historians,
librarians, archivists, and writers.
With their enthusiastic advice the list
was revised and circulated further.
Names were both deleted and added.
Then volunteers willing to write biog¬
raphies and undertake serious histori¬
cal research were enlisted to w rite the
actual entries. The editorial aspect of
the project proceeded virtually
without funding.
Neglected Persons
l-'rom the beginning Powell has been
concerned to include persons in the
Dictionary who have been neglected in
the past. Not only the obvious notable
governors, congressmen, military
men. newspaper editors, physicians,
teachers, and government officials are
listed, but also artists, composers,
craftsmen, inventors, explorers, ar¬
chitects. noted criminals, people noted
for unusual physical «rails, such as
Siamese twins, and Hugh Wclsten-
holme. the hermil of Bald Mountain,
w ho taught Andrew Johnson his letters
and advised state governors from his
lofty cave. Powell and his colleagues
made a special effort to include notable
blacks, women, and Indians, often
seriously neglected by standard his¬
tories.
More than seven hundred people
from throughout the state, the country,
and even Europe, contributed to the
DNCB by writing biographical
sketches. They include noted and
amateur state and local historians and
genealogists, teachers, journalists,
political scientists, and sociologists.
Many graduate and undergraduate
students, housewives, and others —
including a bus driver and a deputy
sheriff — have been equally active and
as thorough and careful in their work.
All <if the contributors volunteered
their time, traveling to libraries and
archives, some overseas, at their own
expense.
Powell estimates the the DNCB is
the cooperative effort of over a thou¬
sand people, including the writers, ar¬
chivists. and librarians who helped
them, his own friends, students, and
family, and the staff of The University
til North Carolina Press.
Shoestring Budget
To say the DNCB has been pro¬
duced on a shtiestring budget would be
an overstatement. Powell did all sub¬
stantive editing, all of his correspon¬
dence. and even put letters in /ip code
sequence by hand to save postage.
Powell's wile. Virginia Waldrop Pow ¬
ell. spent hours alphabetizing and fil¬
ing, reading biographies to determine
their completeness, and checking
proofs. A $650 grant from the Univer¬
sity Research Council enabled Powell
to hire a student who helped with
mimeographing and mailing. The
DNCB Editor W.lliom s Powell: "In fhn doy ol lorg*
gronl» . . something worthwhile can be produced
without tuch
о
lubiidy."
North Carolina Bicentennial Commis¬
sion provided a grant to partiall) sub¬
sidize publication of the first volume.
Powell says that visitors interested in
Ihe project, expecting large of sec¬
retaries and editorial assistants, are
truly surprised to find the DNCB
headquartered in Powell's small office
in the history department.
Ironically. South Carolina and
Georgia have embarked on similar
projects, funding them to the tune of
thousands of dollars. Powell has con¬
sulted on both.
Powell says that it is a source of con¬
siderable satisfaction to him. and
should be to everyone associated with
the DNCB. that "in these days of large
grants for research into almost every
imaginable area, something worth¬
while can be produced without such a
subsidy."
THE STATE. Jun* 1979
